Round Lake Park Woman Accused Of Sexual Assaults

Two months after her husband was convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl, a Round Lake Park woman has been charged with molesting two other children, officials said Wednesday.

Louise A. Kraft, 29, of the 100 block of Washington Street, was charged with five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child for allegedly attacking a 9-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, said Steve Scheller, chief of felony review for the Lake County state's attorney's office.

Authorities are also reviewing whether her husband, David Kraft, also 29, should be charged in the abuse of the youngsters, which allegedly took place over a two-year period, Scheller said.

Detective Rick White, of the Lake County Sheriff's Department and the Children's Advocacy Center, said the children said both Louise and David Kraft abused them.

David Kraft was sentenced to 15 years in prison on June 8 after pleading guilty to charges that he had sexually assaulted a preteen girl for five years, and forced her to pose nude for photographs.

Louise Kraft is accused of performing sex acts on the children, forcing them to do so on her and watching them after she forced them to have relations with each other. The acts allegedly occurred between April 1997 and March of this year.

Judge Victoria Martin set bond at $500,000 on Wednesday, Scheller said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.

Deputies arrested Louise Kraft Tuesday, after she voluntarily accompanied them to the sheriff's office in Waukegan, according to White. She did not admit to the attacks, White said.

Louise Kraft, who does not have a criminal record, is not a suspect in the attacks on the 11-year-old girl, Scheller said.

Investigators learned of the new case after the children, who have been living with foster parents, told their guardians of the alleged abuse, Scheller said.

The foster parents called in the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and officials there informed law enforcement on Monday.